This Is What Happens When My Dad Owns A Music Shop
by Midge90
Summary: So you're new in town, and you're a bit different to anyone else. What if you strike lucky and meet a group of people who are exactly like you? Modern AU, T for safety. Kataang. CHAPTER 14 NOW UP.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Yeah, yeah, another modern AU. Dont hate me for it. Have a read, enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I own squat. Good enough?**

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Moving. He hated it. Every single year, the same story; move in someplace nice, some town out of the way that no ones ever heard of. Spend a year. Move on because Gyatso doesn't think its quite right for him. He longed to tell Gyatso he was sick of it, tired of the constant shifting, the lack of firm friendships.

Trudging around the mall, he was searching for his church. His holy place. Whichever town or city Gyatso took him to, he'd always be able to find one. His sanctuary. He glanced up sharply, one headphone dropping out as it snagged on his jacket zip while he stopped a random person to ask for directions.

"Scuse me. Where's the music shop?"

The kid looked at him oddly, then replied in the snob tone so typical of the expensive clothes he was wearing.

"Well, it looks to me like you'll be after Kuruk's Records. Down there, to the left."

"Thanks man."

He supposed he was dressed a little differently to everyone else. He always was. Orange skinny jeans, yellow Converse. White t-shirt with four letters instantly marking him as different to most others in this town.

MGMT. The indie duo based out of the last city Gyatso had made him live in. New York. He'd been to one of their first ever gigs, and had been an avid fan since then. His music taste marked him differently to any other kid he'd ever met. Sure, there was the indie part to him. But deep down, he loved the emotion and feel of emo music as well, with the musicality of hard rock and metal thrown in as well. An odd combination to fit into one person, but his iPod backed up the taste by showcasing some very, very different bands.

He stopped outside the record store. It looked kinda dead. But, as music shops so often did to him, it looked like home. He pushed open the door, and walked into the middle of some of the best guitar playing he had ever heard. He would have known that riff anywhere, it being one of his own favourites to play on his own when he was feeling down and needed a solid, challenging solo.

He searched around the shop for the source of the playing, stopping when he saw the door to the back room of the shop slightly ajar. He poked his head around, impressed by what he saw.

A guy maybe a couple years older than himself, leaning back on a tatty old plastic chair, feet up on a wooden stool in front of him. Checkered black and white Vans, ripped black slim jeans, blue AC/DC t-shirt. Bright blue Fender Telecaster slung around his neck, his fingers dancing over the fret board as he teased out the solo, the notes rolling out of the amp like waves.

He waited for the guy to finish the song, mentally playing along in his head, before making his presence known.

"Dude, that was freaking sweet!"

The guy looked up, evidently surprised someone had walked into the shop. He looked relieved when he saw it wasn't someone he knew.

"Wow, thought you were my dad there for a second. What can I do for you?"

"Hey, I was just here lookin at some records. I just moved here yesterday and thought I'd check out the neighbourhood music scene. I can see its pretty darn good!"

"To be honest, if you thought that was good, you're in the minority around here. Its all pop crud in this town. Glad you managed to find us though, always good to add another one to the decent music cause. The name's Sokka."

"Aang. Good to meet ya." The two shook hands.

"Have a seat buddy" Sokka gestured to the stool he had just removed his feet from.

"So, how long have you been playing? Play anything else?" Aang questioned immediately.

"Nope, just guitar for me. I can play a couple of things on bass, but only the easy stuff!"

Aang grinned. "Know what you mean there. Wouldn't trade my guitars for anything!"

"Oh, you play?"

"Yeah man. Been playing since I was about six. The only thing that's kept me sane with so much moving."

Sokka handed the guitar to Aang, laughing. "Okay, then let's see what you got. I know it's only a Tele, but it's one of the guitars my dad won't mind if I break a string!"

Aang pondered for a second, then replied.

"Okay, I've got something I reckon you might like."

He launched into the intro of the song, losing himself in the chords until he had finished.

"Woah."

He opened his eyes to see Sokka gawking at him.

"That was the best rendition of Black Night I've ever heard from someone that wasn't me! How dyou know I even like that stuff?!"

Aang laughed. "One, you were playing Sweet Child O' Mine when I walked in. Two, you're wearing an AC/DC t-shirt. I may not be Einstein, but I'm not an idiot either!"

"Heh, sweet. Hey, I finish in like, ten minutes. You wanna hang around and jam a bit more? It gets kinda boring playing on your own for like, ages..."

"Yeah, tell me about it. You got any Gibsons?"

"Yeah, we got a few. Dunno about it though, my dad'll be pretty annoyed if you break a string..." Sokka left the statement hanging in the air.

Aang laughed at Sokka's sudden attack of worry. "Psh, I haven't broken a string in years. It'll be fine."

"Then go for it. But I warn ya, you break one, you pay for it!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. What dyou wanna play?"

" You know any Black Sabbath? I finally learnt Paranoid the other day and I reckon it'll sound awesome with two guitars."

"Dyou not know anyone else who plays guitar?"

"Nah. Been trying to get a band together for years. My best friend Zuko can play bass when he's not, like, being all emo depressed. My sister Katara can sing quite well and can plink around on the keyboards if she needs to. Her friend Toph is a demon on the drums, I've never seen a girl hit those things so hard. But we don't have another guitarist."

"Man, that must suck pretty bad."

"Yeah. That and the fact we all like different music. Leads to a lot of arguments about what we'd play. None of them quite share my frankly superior music taste."

And with that, he launched into the opening riff.

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**You like? Then review! I need the love... :(. You dont like? Let me know, I wanna get better. Reviews = more chapters...**


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry about the long wait! Heres chapter 2...**

**Disclaimer: Nope, I still own nothing...**

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Three hours later, the shop had closed, the sun had set, but still the rolling sound of music boomed from two amps in the back room of Kuruk's Records. Aang hadn't had a jam session like this for a long time, they had stopped playing proper songs about an hour ago and the beautiful sound that came out was entirely of their own making.

"Sokka, what on earth is going on here!?"

The guitars promptly cut out with a shrill shriek as a tall man stooped under the doorway and into the back room, towering over Aang and Sokka sat on the chairs.

"Uh, sorry Dad, we were just playing some songs! We didn't break anything!"

"Whoever you are young man, you'd better get out of here quickly before I call the cops. Do you hear me?"

Aang gulped. "Yes sir. Sorry sir. Didn't mean to do anything sir."

The man stopped suddenly, paused, and let out a roaring laugh that filled the entire room, shaking the floor they were standing on.

"Oh, wow. I really had you there didn't I boys!" He laughed and stuck out a hand towards Aang.

"I'm Hakoda, I own the shop and I happen to be the father of this little guitar playing genius. Who might you be?"

It took Aang a while to answer, still in shock and holding the guitar he'd just been playing.

"Um, I'm Aang, I, uh, just moved here from New York. I liked the look of your shop sir, and I just came in to have a look around, I'm sorry!"

Hakoda's laugh boomed around the tiny back room again, as he clapped a huge hand on Aang's shoulder.

"Don't call me sir, Aang. Are you Gyatso's boy by any chance?"

"Yeah! How did you know?"

"Ah, news travels fast in this town. Anyway Aang, its late. You should probably be getting back."

"Ok sir. Thanks!"

Sokka piped up for the first time in the last couple of minutes.

"Hey Aang, fancy going to the park tomorrow?"

"Yeah, sure man!"

"Great, give me your number and I'll drop you a text tomorrow to let you know what's happening!"

The two swapped numbers, and Aang ran home in a buzz of excitement. He always made friends fast, but never usually this fast. He had barely been in the place a day and he already had plans for the following day!

He burst through the front door, and the beautiful waft of Chinese take-out hit him full in the face as he walked into the kitchen. Gyatso was sat at the table tucking into spring rolls and a veggie lo mein. Aang pulled up a chair and rummaged through the bag for his own meal. He and Gyatso chatted idly for about 20 minutes after they had finished eating, before Aang was finally allowed permission to unpack his Playstation, one of the 'move sweeteners,' as Gyatso called them, that he had gotten a year ago as they moved to New York. Aang had moped in his room for a few days that he'd been forced to move again, and Gyatso had bought it as a surprise to cheer him up.

An hour of Playstation and an hour of guitar practice later, Aang got into bed. But he didn't sleep. As usual after a move, his mind drifted to his old friends back in New York that he'd most likely never see again. Kuzon, a fellow music enthusiast and a brilliant guitarist, and Bumi, one of the guys from the martial arts classes he had attended briefly. He wondered if they were awake right now, missing him as he was missing them. No doubt they'd be goofing off together, drinking as much fizzy drinks and as many crisps as they could get their hands on. A slight, fragile tear crept from the corner of his eye and trailed wistfully down his cheek.

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He was woken up by his phone going off. He rolled over and grabbed the phone, bashing at buttons until it stopped making noise. He was just about to go back to sleep when a laser beam noise erupting from the handset signalled the arrival of a text. He grunted and waited for the phone to open the message.

"I gotta remember to change that freakin' message alert..." He muttered at his pillow.

The text was from Sokka, and it was short and sweet.

_Meet us by the biggest tree in the park. Half an hour._

He groaned, jumped in the shower and grabbed a banana for breakfast. Gyatso had already left for work, but Aang didn't start twelfth grade for another 3 months, leaving him with an entire summer of getting to know a new group of people he'd inevitably have to leave in maybe a year's time at the longest.

He found the park without too much difficulty, and the gigantic tree in the middle of the park wasn't exactly hard to find either. Two guys were already there throwing around a football, and Sokka, immediately identifiable in the distance by his tan skinned bare chest, was pulling a couple of not-so impressive poses in an attempt to impress a couple of girls walking past.

Aang wandered up to the two, greeting Sokka with a quick fist bump, and allowing him to be introduced to the black haired guy next to him.

"Aang, Zuko, Zuko, Aang."

Aang gave Zuko a quick once over and was immediately taken aback by his clothes. While Aang was wearing orange shorts and a yellow sleeveless t-shirt with his traditional yellow Converse, and Sokka was wearing a pair of dark blue shorts, Zuko was wearing black skinny jeans, a long sleeved black Glassjaw t-shirt and a pair of black shoes with no recognisable make or label.

Zuko immediately noticed and grinned slightly.

"Guess you can say I don't really feel the heat..."

Aang laughed, and Sokka grabbed the football and gestured to Aang.

"You play?"

Aang shrugged. "A little bit. I was on my high school team last year, but I more often play basketball or do track."

Sokka laughed as well. "A basketball player then? We'll have a second sports day tomorrow then, shoot some hoops. We'll see if we can get Toph down as well, she's awesome on a basketball court!"

Aang paused for a moment and looked at Sokka.

"Don't you have to be working in your dad's shop?"

Sokka burst into uncontrollable laughter at that.

"Hell no. I only do that once a week to earn a bit of green. Katara works there most of the week, Dad prefers her watching the shop because she doesn't sit in the back room and play guitar with some randomer who walks in off the street..."

"Hey, you can't deny we had an awesome jam session!"

"Whatever. Can we play some football now?" Zuko huffed.

Neither of them were really prepared for Aang's quite considerable pace...


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait! Hope this makes up for it :)**

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Waking up in the morning to no school would always be one of Aang's favourite parts of the holiday. Sunlight streaming through orange curtains, illuminating his still new room. Bed pushed up against two walls, a small desk directly opposite, and his wardrobe to the left. Placed carefully on stands dotted around the room were his prized guitars. He had seven electric guitars and two acoustics from a range of different makers, a couple of Gibsons, a couple of Fenders, the odd Ibanez. They were his pride and joy, and a day didn't go by when at least three of them weren't picked up, plugged in, and picked away at for hours at a time.

Aang grabbed his favourite pick from the bedside table, plugged in his amp and gently ran the pick over the strings. Letting himself fall into nothing, he picked and strummed at the strings with a practiced ease more in common with a world famous musician than a teenaged kid living in some small town.

Eventually he snapped out of his reverie, and began practising some proper songs. He picked up a different guitar, his favourite, it sat resting against his wardrobe. A Gibson Les Paul, signed by Pete Townshend of The Who, finished in pure white with a light brown arrow from the bottom of the fret board to the base of the guitar. Bursting from the guitar came an old, unrefined tune, and the first notes of The Kinks's hit You Really Got Me filled the room, swallowing up any silence in a wonderful, gritty song.

The front doorbell rang. Gyatso had given up hope that Aang would ever answer the door while he was playing, and left the kitchen to answer the door. A girl stood at the door, backpack slung over her shoulder, and Gyatso invited her in.

"Hi, Mr. Gyatso. I've got the parts my dad wanted to give to you."

"Aha, thank you. Very useful. Do you mind just waiting in the kitchen for a minute, while I put these away? Feel free to help yourself to a drink from the fridge..."

"Ah, I'll be fine thanks, Mr Gyatso. Thank you though."

The moment she stepped into the kitchen, however, she stopped. Floating down the stairs came a piece of music played over 200 times on her iPod and iTunes. Without even thinking about it, she started whispering the lyrics along to what was one of her favourite old songs.

_And if you don't love me now._

_You will never love me again._

_I can still hear you saying you must never break the chain._

Gyatso walked back into the kitchen, and noticed her singing softly along to one of Aang's favourite acoustic guitar tracks. He had heard Aang playing that song so many times, to hear a voice complement made his playing even better.

"So, you know one of Aang's favourite songs then?"

The girl started, blushing furiously and stammering slightly.

"Aang lives here?"

Gyatso chuckled. "It's not me playing the guitar upstairs. Why don't you go say hello?"

Tentatively, the girl walked up the stairs towards the beautiful sound, one of the best renditions of the song she had ever had. She paused at the entrance to his bedroom, and he had just finished the song when she knocked on the door.

"Yeah?" Aang's voice said from inside.

She pushed the door open slowly, slightly hesitant about walking into a random guy's bedroom just because she'd heard him play guitar.

Aang sat on his chair, feet up on the desk, expecting some kind of lecture from Gyatso about skipping doing the dishes to play instead, when a girl walked into his room. And his jaw dropped.

She was tan, dark brown chocolate hair. A mid thigh length blue dress led to tights-clad legs, and Aang quickly snapped his gaze back up to her face and somehow stuttered out a greeting.

"Uh...hi!" His voice squeaked slightly, and kicking himself mentally, he blundered on. "You hear something you like?"

"That was one of the best performances of that I've ever heard!" She could barely stop herself shouting in her excitement.

She paused. "Although, you know Fleetwood Mac actually used-"

Aang cut her off. "A banjo and a bass to play most of the song. Yeah, I know. But I don't have a banjo or a bass, so I kinda adapted it to fit an acoustic. You're a Fleetwood fan?"

"Uh, sort of. I only really like that song, but I'm mainly an indie girl to be completely honest."

Aang's jaw dropped at this revelation, only moments after he'd picked it up off the floor from her entering his room.

"Indie?"

She laughed. "Yeah, a bit out of place for this town, I know. You must think I'm pretty weird already..." She tailed off into a nervous giggle.

"Are you joking?!" Aang exclaimed. "Here, I think you'll appreciate this."

He set down the acoustic and grabbed his Les Paul again, re-tuning it slightly, and grabbed his pick from between his teeth. He started off with a random note, then launched into The Strokes's Reptilia, reeling it off perfectly. She sat there dumbstruck, enjoying some of the best guitar playing she had ever heard in person.

He finished playing, the note fading slowly out of the amp as he opened his eyes and grinned. He switched guitars again, snatching up a new electric guitar, a Fender Stratocaster, a bright yellow base and signed by Ian Watson of Lostprophets, and began the intro to a Kings of Leon tune she had been singing that very morning in the shower, California Waiting.

Midway through playing, he looked up, smiled at her, and explained why he loved the song.

"We moved to California a couple of years ago, and it was probably the most exciting move of all. Everything was gonna be great. I listened and played this song non-stop for about a month. It's good to be able to play it for someone who appreciates it!"

She laughed. "I know exactly what you mean. No-one in this town appreciates any kind of indie music at all. Apart from a few of us of have actual music tastes, it's all the same pop crap over and over. I think I've heard so much Miley Cyrus my ears are going to start bleeding..."

"Well, I like all kinds of stuff really. Indie kind of makes you stand out a lot where I've lived, but there's a whole lot of great rock, metal and even emo stuff out there as well which nobody ever seems to feel some love for."

"Hey, you definitely sound like you've been hanging around with my brother!" The girl laughed, pulling her hair back from covering her face to reveal to Aang two brilliant blue eyes, shockingly bright and electrifying. He had only seen eyes like that on two other people, and he noticed the similarity to her brother and father straight away.

She continued, "Sorry by the way, all this time I've known who you are, but I never introduced myself. I'm Katara, Sokka's sister."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Ok, here be chapter 4. Not so sure about the ending though, need your opinions please! **

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Since by now the only member of Sokka's gang Aang hadn't met was Toph, Sokka figured it was about time he met the demon drummer girl.

"Be careful what you say though dude. She punches as hard as she drums, so don't get on her bad side..."

Aang swallowed nervously, checking out the skate park where Sokka had said Toph hung around most of the time. He had been skateboarding a lot before, but it was always a challenge to show off your skills in a new town. Most skate parks were a bit banged up, graffiti tags strewn over every available surface, but every ramp and rail was perfectly shined, with only one tag on the biggest quarter pipe in the park.

"TBF?" Aang questioned.

Sokka laughed. "Stands for Toph Bei Fong. She owns this place."

"Wow, she's that good?"

Sokka could only laughed again, harder this time. "Yeah, she's good. She also literally owns the park, her parents bought the land, she designed it, and they had it built for her."

Aang's mouth gaped open. "Seriously?!"

"Yup. The Bei Fongs are minted. Although I think she only got it because her parents were scared of her boarding on anything that wasn't properly kept..."

Zuko had been quietly musing over the revelation that had come that morning when he had met Aang and Sokka at the end of his road.

_In keeping with his philosophy, he had the same black jeans and shoes that he always had, hair straightened and swept sideways over his left eye. Flicking quickly through his t-shirts, he grabbed a Lostprophets one out of the wardrobe and left the house, quickly spraying on deodorant rather than having a shower. _

_He had casually greeted Sokka. He gave Aang no hello. Heck, he barely knew the guy. But Aang had already piped up._

"_Hey Zuko. How you doing?"_

"_Uh, not bad, thanks."_

_A pause._

"_Hey, is that a 'Prophets shirt?"_

_Zuko could barely believe his ears. "You know Lostprophets?"_

_Aang grinned widely. "Yeah man. Tell you what, they're absolutely amazing live! And their new album isn't bad either!"_

_Zuko almost passed out from shock. He mumbled out some kind of agreement before Sokka cut in._

"_Aang man! I thought you had such great music taste! Now you're telling me you like Zuko's emo rubbish?"_

"_Sokka, chill dude. 'Prophets are awesome. You should give them a chance, you never know. Different music styles are more connected than you might think you know..."_

_Sokka groaned. "Don't start giving me religious crud. Not my thing. Connections, blah blah. C'mon, let's go skate."_

Zuko snapped out of his reverie just as they arrived at the skate park. He quickly clocked who was around, and grinned.

"Aang, its time to play a little game. From what we've told you about Toph, see if you can guess which one is her."

"Kay, this shouldn't be too hard right? Rich, gets her own way? It's gotta be her!"

He pointed to a girl sat on a bench, dressed in a pink dress and clearly flirting with at least three guys at once.

Zuko and Sokka collapsed on the floor, barely able to breathe past the convulsive laughter. Eventually Sokka managed to gasp a breath.

"Unlucky. That'd be Ty Lee. Nope, that girl over there is Toph." He pointed. Aang followed his finger. His jaw dropped.

Stood at the top of the half pipe was a short but stocky girl. Black hair streaked with bright green, green and black skater shoes, shredded green shorts, and a black Iron Maiden tee.

The three strolled over, as Toph launched herself down the halfpipe, kicking into the air as she came back up, spinning completely round twice in the air, before casually jumping off the board as Sokka, Zuko and Aang came over.

"Yo, what up guys?" She called out, before apparently noticing Aang standing by Zuko and Sokka. "Who's this?" She questioned.

The two guys both high-fived Toph, Sokka turning to Aang and introducing him to Toph, who looked him up and down with a critical eye.

"You board?" She asked him sceptically.

"Yeah, I've done a bit in the past..." Aang said casually. He started when Toph chucked him her board, and he fumbled with it, nearly dropping it onto the concrete.

"Smooth, earth-brain!" Toph yelled. "That board cost more than you ever thought possible!"

Aang, visibly rattled, almost broke out in a cold sweat at Toph's words. Before he lost his nerve, he dropped the board down, kicked forward, and surged onto the halfpipe. Building up speed, kicking up higher and higher.

"Nice air work Twinkle Toes! Can you do anything other than dance around?" Toph shouted from the side.

Aang grinned, and surged up the halfpipe one last time, a 180 double kickflip rounding off his routine, the board rotating twice under his feet before he landed, skidding to a stop in front of Toph, smiling his trademark smile.

Toph didn't look impressed. Shouting at one of the other guys, she beckoned him over. Grabbing his board off him, she handed it to Aang, and laid down the challenge. Whoever could get the most air, won the bragging rights. For Toph, it was just another contender to beat down. For Aang, it was the chance to catch some serious attention in a new town. Game on.

Sokka and Zuko, would be judges, while Ty Lee and two other girls looked on from the side. The two kicked off down the halfpipe, and began the competition.

A minute later, and Aang was matching Toph jump for jump.

Two minutes in, and Aang was still level with Toph.

And the third minute was where everything collapsed. Aang landed at the same time as Toph, but one of the wheel nuts on his borrowed board had shaken itself loose. Like a scene from a cheesy action movie, the small bolt slipped out of the wheel which promptly came loose. Aang was thrown forward. The curve of the halfpipe came up to meet him, and in a desperate attempt to halt his face from smacking into the floor, he shoved his hands out in front of him, trying to cushion his fall.

Crack.

What Sokka would later describe as one of the most horrible sounds he had ever heard in his life rang out around the Bei Fong skatepark as Aang planted into the floor. His fingers took most of the impact, then his wrists, then his shoulder. Then his face.

Pain. Then everything went black.

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Pure white sheets, pure white room. The steady drip of morphine making his way into his system through an IV drip in his arm. IV drip, that means a needle right? In his arm...

He passed out again.

Voices, old and young. Who could they be. Opening his eyes, blurry figures crowded in front of him. A flash of silver.

Sleep returned.

He eventually awoke, fingers buddy wrapped, his wrists in casts, and his shoulder in a sling. Gyatso sat by his bed, dozed off. He looked like he hadn't slept for a couple of days. Aang went through a body check.

Feet okay.

Legs bruised but still intact.

Stomach sore, but okay.

Incredible pain fired, searing the nerves from his fingers to his brain. Fingers not okay.

He moaned in pain. Wrists not okay either.

He tried to roll over, and winced. Shoulder bad as well!?

A nurse stormed in.

"Aang, you're going to have to stop moving I'm afraid. You took a nasty spill. No exercise for you for a while young man."

"How long?" Aang asked, his raspy voice sounding weak and feeble even to his own ears.

"At least two months. Do you play any kind of contact sport?"

"Only a bit of football in the park, why?"

"None of that for at least three months."

A horrible thought struck Aang.

"What about playing guitar?" He asked, tangible fear in his voice.

"I'd have thought you'll be fine to play in 6 weeks, assuming your fingers knit okay."

Six weeks.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Sorry it took so long guys! Hope you enjoy! :)**

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**He had made Gyatso bring in one of his guitars anyway. Even just lying on his hospital bed, guitar on his lap, plucking at one of the strings with one of his unbroken fingers was a relief from the bland existence being trapped on a bed forced upon him.

He was being released today, finally. A week of being kept in bed on morphine, and they were finally letting him go home to recover. A solitary card sat on his bedside. From Gyatso.

He sighed. He was pretty new in town. He hadn't exactly expected to be flooded with guests, but still. A visitor other than Gyatso would have been quite nice.

He spun the touch wheel on his iPod, flicking past most of the usual mood. He was in the mood for something a bit darker. He stopped, clicked twice, and the angry, screaming bite of a guitar burst out of the headphones. Pausing for a moment, with the clicking of a hi-hat in the background, and the voice yelled out, sparking a change. The guitar dropped, from its high-pitched scream into a low, guttural growl, accompanied by a furious drum beat.

The guitar stopped, and the vocals began their story. Screaming, shouting out of the headphones. Bullet For My Valentine were not a band he listened to often, and for good reason. This was true emo music, and there were times he loved it. Times he hated it. Times he needed it.

The song faded into nothing, but Aang had a new song ready. Clicking the iPod once, a slow, soft piano intro began. Drums started, pounding out a rhythm Aang could tap off by heart. The heavy industrial beat automatically rocked his head from side to side, the voice of Trent Reznor slowly voicing Aang's exact feelings. Every day is exactly the same. There is no love here. And there is no pain. Every day is exactly the same. The hospital was trapping him. He wanted to be home.

Two days later, Gyatso was picking him up. Saying goodbye and thank you to the nurses, the same line repeated in monotone over and over. It wasn't that he wasn't grateful. He was. But walking to the car, seeing Gyatso carrying his guitar, unable to open the car door himself, he felt helpless. Useless.

And friendless.

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He argued with himself in the car on the way home.

I'm so stupid. I didn't needed to take Toph's challenge, There was no reason to. None at all.

_Well, to be fair, it was an attempt to get some recognition in this place..._

Yeah, and look where it's got me. Hospital. Broken bones. Great.

_People will at least know who I am. I'll be the guy that epically stacked that skateboard competition with Toph..._

I'll also be the guy who can't play guitar for another five weeks because his fingers, wrist and shoulder are all broken.

_True._

And let's be honest, after this, it won't be long before Gyatso forces us to move. For my own safety. But hey. It's not like I've made any friends here anyway.

_Jesus. I can be depressing sometimes._

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Gyatso tapped Aang kindly on the leg, signalling they had made it home. Waiting until he opened the door, Aang slid out of the old pickup, beaten, rusted and dusty. Looked out at the beckoning house, and sighed. He followed Gyatso up the short drive, and waited disinterestedly as Gyatso opened the door.

"Aang, why don't you go into the living room and rest a minute?" Gyatso said as they entered.

"Actually Gyatso, I'll just go up to my room. I'm feeling pretty tired." Aang's reply was slow, bored.

"Just one second Aang. I'll bring you some custard tart in the front room. Just go in there a second for me." Gyatso walked into the kitchen with a smile on his face.

Aang huffed slightly, placated a little by the thought of a custard tart. Pushing open the living room door, he flicked on the light switch.

In fairness to Aang, he was still feeling the effects of the morphine. Probably his only excuse for not noticing the bright yellow banner sooner, especially since it was draped all over one wall of the room.

**GET WELL SOON AANG!**

In bold letters against the sun-coloured background, threw Aang off. He looked around to be finally greeted by Sokka and Katara, who had just stepped out from behind the curtains.

"Welcome back matey!" Sokka smiled, as Katara carefully folded him up in a hug.

"Aang, we felt so bad, we wanted to come see you in hospital, but we knew you must have been angry with us, so we decided on this instead!" Katara stammered nervously, slowly stepping back from Aang, who still looked completely shell shocked.

"Yeah, I never should have egged you on to do that with Toph, especially using some random loser's board. I'm so sorry dude. How you feeling?" Sokka managed to squeeze out, looking at every point in the room apart from Aang's eyes.

Aang finally found a voice. "Guys, it was a stupid accident. It's not your fault. Don't worry about it."

Sokka posed the question Aang didn't want to answer. "So, how bad is it?"

Aang swallowed the tennis ball sized lump in his throat. Looked up at Sokka. "Six broken fingers, a broken wrist, a dislocated shoulder and a broken collar bone."

Katara looked horrified, hand flying to cover her mouth in shock. Sokka's eyes grew to dinner plate size as Aang continued.

"No sports for three months. No exercise for a while at least. Oh yeah, and no guitar for another five weeks."

Now Sokka finally was just as horrified as Katara. She wrapped him up in another hug, but Sokka smiled slightly.

"Hey, Aang. You're by far and away the best guitar player I've ever met. If you can't play, dyou reckon you could help me get better?"

Katara whipped round, ready to berate her idiot brother for his insensitivity. But halted when Aang's light, musical laugh barked out in response. Turning back, she saw a grin plastered over Aang's face.

"Sure thing!"


	6. Chapter 6

**OH MAN! So yeah, it has been AGES since the last update. Sorry about that. Huge exams key to the rest of my degree etc etc. I apologise. But I'm back, and I hope you like the return chapter! Read and review as always :)**

* * *

He had thought it would be easy at first. When he practiced and played, it was for hours on end, non-stop. Feeling the flow, the rhythm of his strings. The soft pluck, the fierce strum. The finger pick, his fingers dancing over the strings like the gentlest feather.

He had, of course, ignored the doctor's advice. The moment Gyatso had left the house to go to work, Aang had picked up his acoustic. His shoulder groaned in pain, and his wrist screamed out as he bent it around the fret board. The pressure on his fingers made him grimace, but just holding his guitar again felt too good to be rattled by the pain. After ten seconds of holding the acoustic, he set it back down by his wardrobe, a slight smile on his face.

Teaching Sokka had its ups and downs, and a fair amount of teacher-student arguments. Sokka was a gifted guitarist, and the will to learn. Aang was patient, providing tips whenever he could. But when Sokka got angry because he couldn't quite master something, tensions would rise.

After Aang had left Sokka's house fuming at his new best friend, kicking over three bins and a road sign on his way down the road, Katara ran out after him.

"Aang! Hold up!"

He didn't turn round, instead taking a run up at another bin and sending it flying into the road. Katara caught up with him, grabbing his arm and spinning him round.

"Aang, what happened between you two?"

"Does he realise how god damn lucky he is?" Aang nearly screamed at Katara.

Katara stepped back from Aang, shocked at the outburst of venom from the normally calm boy. "What d'you mean?"

"He's there whinging and whining about how he can't quite master Poison, and I can't even hold a damn guitar without enough pain to make me want to die! Jesus!" Aang vented, wincing slightly as he cradled his shoulder.

"Aang, I'm sure-"

"You're sure of what?" Aang interrupted Katara. "He doesn't really mean it? Maybe he meant something else when he told me I can go fu-"

"He actually said that?" Katara gasped. "Why?"

"Go ask him" Aang fumed. "I'm off home."

He turned and walked, leaving Katara alone on the street.

"Bye..." She whispered into the dark.

* * *

Sokka looked in no better mood than Aang had. Dark, gloomy face, and an irritated temper.

Katara stormed back into the house, and heard Sokka crashing around in the kitchen. She confronted her brother as he was about to shove a pork chop in his mouth. Grabbing a fork, she hurled it at him.

Sokka dropped the pork chop in surprise, and then rounded on his sister. But before he could get a word out, another fork hit him square in the chest and Katara began her rant.

"What the hell Sokka? Care to explain why Aang is walking off into dark this very moment?"

Sokka's face fell.

"Yeah, that's what I thought!" Katara snapped at him.

"Hey, look. I'm sorry. It just comes so naturally to him, I got a bit jealous. His constant cheery attitude gets really grating when I can't do something he clearly can!"

"So what? That guy's new in town, he's just had a horrible accident, and now you're getting upset because you can't master something he can?" Katara bit back.

"Well, yeah. I'm not sure you appreciate what it's like for me Katara. I've always been the best, and now he comes along..."

"SO YOU THINK ITS OK TO SWEAR AT HIM AFTER HE'S SPENT HOURS TRYING TO HELP YOU?" Katara fumed, having to restrain herself from smacking her idiot brother clean round the face.

Sokka gaped like a fish out of water for a bit, mouth hanging open in shock and horror as he finally realised what a complete and total loser he had been.

"DYOU NOT STOP TO THINK WHAT IT'S LIKE FOR HIM?" Katara steamed on unhindered, before Sokka regained his voice.

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?" He stumbled.

"Well, think about it. Aang loves his guitar right? Possibly the only person who does so more than you?" She asked him.

"Yeah, I guess so..." Sokka trailed off.

"And he's agreed to teach you while he can't play, right?"

"Uh huh..."

"So, how would you feel if you couldn't play AT ALL, but had to watch pretty much your only friend play instead?" Katara smiled viciously as Sokka began to realise just how much he must have hurt Aang. She continued to dig the knife in further. "And, while you're selflessly making this effort, the person you're teaching acts like a complete, ungrateful -"

"Yeah, I get the point Katara." Sokka felt sick to his stomach.

"Tell you what, how about we surprise him. Take him to a gig or something?" As much as she knew Sokka was badly in the wrong, Katara still couldn't bear the pained, sickened look on her brother's face.

"Uh, yeah. One slight problem with that. All the bands I'd wanna see with him are either no longer together or partly dead. That's kinda the issue with liking classic rock. Maybe you could go see some indie crud with him?" Sokka started thinking.

"Huh. Maybe. He said he's already seen Kings of Leon and The Strokes though, dyou know any other indie bands he likes?" Katara quickly turning ideas over in her head.

"Well, when I first met him he was wearing a t-shirt with some indie band on it. MBMP or something?" Sokka struggled with the name.

"MGMT! Great idea! Finally, that brain of yours actually does have some use idiot!"

* * *

Ideas were falling quickly and smoothly into place in Katara's mind. Finally the time had come. Two tickets, happily paid for by Sokka once he realised he wouldn't have to face the awkwardness with Aang, nestled in her back jeans pocket. Quickly checking her reflection in Gyatso's wing mirror, she knocked on the door with her trademark signal for Aang.

He limped to the door, now out of most of his slings, casts and bandages. But his fingers still hurt like hell, and the weight of a guitar did nothing to help ease the pain.

"Hey Katara. I'm ready. Where are we going?"

She had told him to be ready at half six, eaten, showered and dressed. She looked him up and down. Black t-shirt with a logo for The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus splashed across the front and back, dark slim jeans and white Converse. Yeah, he'd do.

"Get in the car." She grinned at him.

45 minutes later, she pulled into the car park of an anonymous looking building. Well, it looked anonymous to Aang. To Katara it was the home of music, the indie hangout.

The location of MGMT's Congratulations tour on this particular day.

She had made sure to get seated tickets, to avoid Aang having to put up with too much discomfort.

Two hours and two support acts later, the main act arrived. And when Aang realised who it was from the opening bars of the first song he turned to Katara with pure excitement and joy in his eyes. From start to finish, right up until the last notes faded away, the house lights shone up and the instruments began to be packed away, it was a perfect gig. A perfect evening. A perfect cure.


	7. Chapter 7

**Argh, I'm the worst author ever! So sorry about the delay, I've been nursing a trapped nerve which hasn't been the most pleasant of experiences. After this, next chapter will be sometime next week, I promise! Let me know what you guys think! :)**

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* * *

**

He woke up feeling different than any other day. At first, he was confused. It had been three weeks since Katara had taken him to the MGMT gig, and he rolled out of bed, gripping the side of the frame.

He paused. Looked down at his hand. Releasing his grip on the bed, he looked at his hands. Flexed his fingers. Rotated his wrists. And slowly, the widest grin you could ever see spread across his face, like ten Christmas and birthdays had all come at once.

He forced himself to wait. He showered, went downstairs, ate breakfast. Had a chat with Gyatso before he left for work. And as soon as the front door closed, he leapt up the stairs three at a time, grabbing his acoustic as he ran through his bedroom door. Flicking his pick around his fingers, he stretched out his fingers again, and began picking out Jose Gonzalez's cover of Heartbeats, singing softly to himself as he played.

Midway through, he frowned. Something didn't sound right. He quickly checked the tuning of the guitar. Perfect. The frown got deeper.

He set his beloved acoustic to one side, hurriedly snatching up his white Gibson. This one he kept perfectly in tune at all times. Plugging in the amp, he launched straight into the solo from Elbow's Grounds for Divorce. Pausing again midway through.

Something was wrong.

He ran to Sokka's house, frantically ringing on the doorbell. Katara answered, a smile on her face when she saw it was Aang.

"Aang, how are-"

"Good, I'm good. You seen Sokka?" Aang replied breathlessly.

"He's working at the shop today." Katara told him, slightly confused.

Aang turned around and started running again. "Coolthanksseeyalater!" He yelled in one breath over his shoulder, leaving Katara stood in the doorway of her house wondering what the heck was going on.

Sokka had happily been reclining in the back room of the store, safe in the knowledge that the only people ever likely to come into the shop were Toph, Zuko and...

"Aang, buddy! How ya-"

"Sokka, I've got a problem." Aang interrupted.

"Shoot brother. What's up?" Sokka asked.

"Listen to this. Is there something wrong with it to your ears?"

Aang snatched the Ibanez Sokka had been polishing on his lap, plugged the amp in and launched straight into Paradise City by Guns N' Roses, the soft twang rolling out. Sokka miming the words, until a quarter of the way through the song. Before he paused.

"You're off a little dude..." He slowly murmured, not quite able to believe it. He had listened to Aang play countless songs, and never, not once, had he been the slightest bit off-pace or off-key when playing something to mimic it.

The smile that had adorned Aang's face was firmly gone by the time he got home that day. He and Sokka had spent hours going over and over solos and intros, and each time Sokka played the part note for note, step for step. But Aang was always very slightly, marginally off.

Sokka had dismissed it as lack of practice, telling Aang not to worry, and that it was just because he hadn't played in two months. But Aang was worried. More worried than he had been about things in a long time. Because what he hadn't told Sokka was that not only did the song not sound right, but it also didn't feel right. Usually his fingers played over the fret board almost separate to him. But today, they felt heavy. Slow. Disjointed.

Wrong.

* * *

Aang lay motionless on the bed, staring at the ceiling. The white gloss stared back at him, offering no comfort or reassurance. He held his hands out in front of face, focusing on every detail of his wrists and fingers. The scars, the scratches, pink on pale skin. The deep red marks where he couldn't help but scratch every now and again. Long and thin, they were pianist's fingers more than guitarist's fingers. But he had given up piano when the guitar waltzed into his life, and had never looked back.

But he blinked, and he was sat at Gyatso's piano in the garage. It was probably the only thing that had gone wherever the two had gone. In New York, it had sat in Gyatso's room, squished impossibly into their small apartment. In San Francisco, it had had its own room in between Aang's and Gyatso's bedrooms. He ran a finger through the dust that coated its surface, drawing an initial into the fine grey powder.

Resting his fingers on the polished ivory, he began to play, singing softly at first, before the chorus kicked in, and his voice grew stronger.

_And I find it kinda funny, I find it kinda sad._

_The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had._

_I find it hard to tell you, I find it hard to take._

_When people run in circles, it's a very very, mad world..._

With one ear to the garage door, Katara imagined she looked pretty damn weird to any passer-by. But she didn't really care, she had never heard Aang play piano before, never heard anyone play something so haunting, so melancholy, so beautifully. She heard a car closing in on the house though, and without thinking, scampered round the side of the house instead of knocking on front door.

The car door slammed, and the piano slowed to a few odd notes. Gyatso entered the garage, and Katara strained to hear the conversation. Gyatso had an odd tone to his voice. And Aang didn't sound too happy about whatever he was saying. She crept back around towards the front of the house, catching the end of the conversation. Eyes widening in shock, she slipped out of sight over the fence, and ran home.

Two days passed, and it found Aang in the same position in his room. Staring aimlessly at the ceiling. He rolled to one side, picked up the acoustic that lay carelessly on the floor beside his bed, began to pick out a song that mirrored his feelings.

The soft sound was accompanied only by Aang's shaking voice, as he sang out Johnny Cash's version of Nine Inch Nails' Hurt:

_I hurt myself today, to see if I still feel._

_I focus on the pain, the only thing that's real._

_The needle tears a hole, the old familiar sting._

_Try to kill it all away._

_But I remember, everything._

_What have I become? My sweetest friend?_

_Everyone I know, goes away, in the end._

_And you could have it all._

_My empire of dirt._

_I will let you down._

_I will make you hurt._

_I wear this crown of thorns, upon my liar's chair._

_Full of broken thoughts, I cannot repair._

_Beneath the stains of time, the feeling disappears._

_You are someone else, I am still right here..._

He pictured Katara's face when she learnt of where they had gone, and it was side to side with Gyatso's face, the same face he had put on the last ten times he had had to break the news to Aang. His words rang out, clips of past repeated phrases.

He had got himself hurt.

It clearly wasn't safe for him here.

They were moving again.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: So this one took considerably less time than the last update. But here, I need your feedback as to whether you think I'm going in the right direction with this. I've got the main plot planned out, so if you guys like where it's going let me know!**

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* * *

**A week passed without Aang leaving the house. Barely even finding the wish to play, he would lie for hours in his staring competition with the ceiling. Sure, he'd been here before. Many times. But this time, this time he had thought that it might just have worked out. Sokka, Katara, Zuko and Toph. The five of them had become close recently, the most expansive social circle he had had in quite some time when you took into account Suki, Yue, and Haru, who occasionally hung around when they were around.

But now, it was going to be over soon. One freak accident. He punched his pillow in frustration, his fists clenched tight, white with the sign of his annoyance. Hunger growled at his stomach though, and he finally caved to its demands. Stomping downstairs, he threw open the fridge door, grabbing a leftover veggie sausage from a foil pack and going back to his room.

Tossing the sausage onto his bed, he walked over to his guitars. Running his fingers over each and every fret, he picked up his acoustic, and walked over to his computer. iTunes was already running, and he double clicked a song on the 'Slow' playlist he had made the other day. Songs for when he wasn't feeling so brilliant. Like right about now.

His pick sat ignored on his bedside table, as he used his fingers to carefully, slowly, tease out the acoustic guitar, tapping his foot alongside the slow, patient drumbeat. As usual, his voice broke out, without him really meaning to sing along to Bono's soft voice.

_Tough, you think you've got the stuff._

_You're telling me, and anyone, you're hard enough._

_You don't have to put up a fight, you don't have to always be right._

_Let me take some of the punches, for you tonight._

_Listen to me now, I need to let you know._

_You don't have to go it alone._

_And it's you, when I look in the mirror, and it's you when I don't pick up the phone._

_Sometimes, you can't make it, on your own._

Fittingly, just as the lyrics rolled off his tongue, his phone began ringing. He didn't have to look at it to know who was calling, he had spent about ten minutes picking a specialised song for each of his friends. The fact that The Chain, the song he had first played for her, was Katara's, was something she had no idea about. He kept the thing on silent whenever he was near her. Wouldn't want to risk that awkward conversation.

The phone lay ignored on the bedside table, as Aang focused back on the song. Five seconds later, the phone rang again. Welcome to the Jungle, Sokka's favourite Guns N' Roses song, blasted out signifying Sokka was ringing him. He ignored it. Five seconds after that stopped, Toph's ringtone screamed from the handset. At the best of times Parabola, by Tool, was one of his favourite metal songs, but after having had Toph ring him twice a day for the last week, it was fast irritating him. He ignored it. Five seconds later, the bassline of the Brand New song Aang had picked out for Zuko told him Zuko was now calling him. Sic Transit Gloria finally faded out as the call stopped, and Aang finally breathed out. But his relief was short lived when Katara's ringtone started again.

This cycle repeated four times before Aang finally turned his phone off. Only five minutes after turning his phone off, a stone sailed through his open window, with a note wrapped round it. Intrigued, Aang momentarily forgot his melancholy, and peeled the note off the stone faster than unwrapping a Christmas present. It only had five words written on it.

**ZUKO'S HOUSE. NOW. OR ELSE.**

So it turned out his friends weren't taking it any more. Time to let them know, he guessed. So he grabbed his phone, his wallet, his iPod, and his keys. Stuffing them into the pockets of his skinny jeans, he left for Zuko's house.

But he had barely left the house before someone grabbed him by the collar and shoved him against a fence round the side of his garage.

"So, when EXACTLY were you planning to tell me?" A voice hissed into his ear, and Aang instantly knew who it was. He'd heard the same tone used when Sokka was at his most stupid and irritating.

"Katara, I was gonna-"

"Yeah, whatever Aang. Forty ignored phone calls suggests you had other plans. Disappear having left only a note or a letter posted through my door or something? You think that's how I'd want to find out?"

"Katara, who have you told?" Aang knew immediately he'd said precisely the wrong thing. The fist on his collar tightened, leaving him gasping for breath, head pressed back against the strong wood of the fence.

"No-one, for your information. I was gonna let YOU let us all know. But since apparently we aren't important enough for you to even bother telling ME, maybe you aren't worth our time?" Katara whispered menacingly into his ear.

"Look, I'm really sorry okay? But you have no idea, no idea how hard it is. How many times I've had to do this, the sympathy and the pity each time. I could do without it this time."Aang's gaze was fixed to the floor as he spoke, Katara's grip on his collar slacking slightly. But finally he looked into her eyes. "Especially since I don't want to go..."

* * *

The walk to Zuko's passed in the most uncomfortable silence. It was obvious Katara was still pissed at him, and Aang's mind was still racing with possible things he could say to calm her down. In the end, he ended up saying nothing, he reckoned he'd be better off that way.

The group were lounging in Zuko's front room when Katara and Aang arrived, and the moment they walked in threw down their Playstation controllers.

"So..." Toph started with a grin. "Got something to tell us Twinkles?"

Aang looked nervously at Katara, and proceeded to tell the group how it had gone down. Sokka grimaced as he heard the news, Toph punched the sofa, and even the usually unflappable Zuko looked a little concerned.

"But yeah. I figured this was my best chance to get a band together. You're all awesome musicians, it would have been fun!" Aang attempted to finish with a smile, but couldn't quite pull it off. He turned to leave, waving over his shoulder, before walking out the door.

And the others made plans.

Plans for band practice.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Oooookay loyal readers! ****Hope you've been well. ****I am really, really sorry for the INCREDIBLE delay in this chapter, my laptop was stolen a few weeks ago and I didnt have a backup of anything. SO, I've had to completely restart my thoughts for the rest of this story. Im hoping its gonna be even better than the plan I had for it before, but again, SORRY! I've made this chapter extra long as a comeback apology. As before, if you like it, let me know. Read, enjoy, review. **

* * *

He walked into the hallway, carelessly slamming the front door shut behind him. Hair ruffled from the breeze, leaves clinging to his Converse and slight mud stains on the bottom of his black jeans, he kicked a nearby box, enjoying the crash it made as it skidded sideways. Pulling an earphone out of his ear, he checked around to see if Gyatso was home yet. He wasn't, and Aang made the most of it.

His room was still completely unpacked. Not a box in sight. He plugged the speaker input into his iPod, and pushed his speakers up to full volume. He shook it, shuffling onto a new song.

_I promised you open ocean glow_

_Mother of pearl, gold, and indigo_

_Cut through the waves, I watched you swim away_

_I'll never love you more than today_

_Would you,_

_Be there?_

_Be there?_

_Be there for me?_

He smiled sadly. Foals were one of his favourite English bands, and he had always wanted to see them live. Beautiful, minimalist, and lyrically simple. He shuffled again.

On Call, by Kings of Leon. Probably another favourite. Listening to it full volume gave the song so much more power, so much more emotion. He sniffed slightly, sat up off the bed, and looked out of his window. At the clear blue sky, the golden leaves, the occasional bird. He didn't want to leave, at all. He had never resented Gyatso for his over protectiveness, however, at this moment he was finding it difficult to be so placatable.

But what was it about this place, something so special, that even though he had only spent a fraction of the time here, he loved it so much more than anything he had encountered before.

And without warning, Katara's face sprang to mind, quicker than he was even able to realise. Yeah, that was pretty much it.

He turned, laughed sadly, and flicked through his iPod. He hadn't yet listened to Linkin Park's new album, and he'd seen reviews that his was genre-defining. This could cheer himself up right?

* * *

Without Aang's knowledge, the object of his thoughts was busy in Zuko's garage. Zuko himself was leaning against his garage door frame, jet black hair swept carefully over one eye.

"You realise he's clearly not gonna come right?" He muttered at Katara. "The guy's been more depressed even than me this last week."

"Quiet Sparky! Aang'll be here. He's never seen me drum before, and he HAS to see that if he's leaving next week!" Toph grinned at him.

Zuko huffed in Toph's general direction and turned to Katara. "When's Sokka getting his lazy butt here anyway? We've been setting up stuff for hours now…"

"Zuko, I told you. Sokka's picking Aang up. Now, be quiet, and grab me that amp. I can't lift it myself, and if it stays there its gonna overload that socket!" Katara snapped back at him.

Zuko huffed again, and heaved the amp over for Katara.

"Good boy!" Katara smiled, enjoying the frown that deepened on Zuko's face as he stuck two fingers up at her.

Toph could only grin at the exchange, and grabbed her phone. Hitting speed dial 1, Sokka's number began to dial. Not that she'd ever tell anyone Sokka was number 1 on her speed dial. In order to minimise annoying questions from Zuko, Katara and Aang she'd told them it was Katara.

Two rings later, and Sokka answered with his usual cheeriness.

"What up homie?" He yelled, and she could even picture the smile on his face as he said it extra loud.

"Sokka, I'm not deaf, you sack of monkey-poop! Go get Aang, I think we're ready here." She said, with a happy grin fixed firmly on her face.

"Sure thing doll-face. I'll be there in 10." Click. He'd hung up.

"Toph, what the hell are you grinning so much about?" Zuko poked her in the side, a malicious smile on his face as he did so.

"Uh, nothing Zuko. Shouldn't you check out whether you can play anything Katara put out for us to learn?" She bit back, trying to wipe the smile off her face to cover up.

"Yeah, of course I can. Loads of its rubbish, but it seems pretty easy…" Zuko shrugged.

"And that's because you play bass. And bass is easy!" Toph whacked him on the head with a drumstick, and turned back to her kit. Thumping a few cymbals and kicking the bass drum a couple of times, a grin returned to her face. Man, she loved making serious noise.

* * *

Aang was slightly startled when his phone started vibrating on his face. Digging his head out of the pillow, he paused the iPod and answered without looking at the screen.

"Hello?"

"Dude, get your butt down here and answer the fricking door!" Sokka barked down the phone, before hanging up.

Aang shuffled down the stairs, opening the door to a very irritated Sokka.

"I've been banging on this door for a good five minutes you idiot. Grab two guitars and get in the car already." Sokka punched him in the arm.

"Ow!" Aang yelped. "You've been around Toph way too long dude. She's starting to rub off on you!"

"Huh, bro, I wish she'd have anything to do with me. Now, get two guitars." Sokka said, the grin back in place on his face.

"Fine. Gimme a second." Aang ran upstairs, grabbed his iPod, and two of his favourite electrics, before making his way back downstairs a lot more carefully now he had a guitar in each hand.

"We gonna jam for a bit?" He asked Sokka as he locked the door.

Sokka laughed. "You could say that dude!"

"No need to be so cryptic…" Aang muttered. "I'm putting on music in your car by the way."

"Oh, woah, woah. What music?" Sokka looked across at him suspiciously as they jumped in the car.

"Something I've been into a while now, but no-one here seems to know much about it." Aang replied, busy connecting his iPod to Sokka's cassette player.

"Oh, joy. This doesn't sound good at all…" Sokka grumbled as he backed out of Aang's driveway and sped off down the road.

"Just, hold on will you! Here, listen to this." Aang clicked on the iPod, and the sound of Daft Punk filled the car.

"Who the hell is this?" Sokka turned to Aang in confusion.

"Eyes on the road Sokka!" Aang screamed, as Sokka swerved out of the way of an oncoming truck.

"Oops, my bad." Sokka laughed. He looked at Aang. "You know, this is actually kinda cool. It's making me wanna dance…"

"That's because it's dance music dude." Aang grinned back at Sokka. "It's a duo called Daft Punk, they've got some pretty cool stuff."

"Eh, I'll give it a check out." Sokka replied, as he pulled into Zuko's driveway.

Aang grabbed his stuff, hauling it into Zuko's garage as directed by Sokka. He was still confused, but figured he'd find out what was going on eventually.

That confusion was ended as he entered the garage. Checking round the room, he saw Toph on a drum kit, Zuko holding a bass checking over some notes, while Sokka's precious Telecaster and an acoustic were sat over to another side of the garage. Katara was standing by a microphone and beaming as Aang walked in, taken aback by what he saw.

"Guys, what's going on…?" Aang whispered, still staring at the setting he'd wandered into.

"Well, Twinkle Toes, you said you wanted a band!" Toph crashed a cymbal to emphasise her point.

"And since you're, going away, next week, we thought we'd fulfil a dream while we still can!" Katara called over.

Aang's smile slowly got wider and wider as he took his place at the front of the set up, he and Zuko flanking Katara on the microphone, while Sokka patrolled behind them just ahead of Toph.

"But, you guys all like different music. What are we going to play?" Aang was happy, nonetheless, but this question had bothered him throughout the set up. The only time the group argued was about music, each considering their tastes superior, while Aang sat out in smug fashion. He liked all music, so it wasn't an issue for him. But the other guys, this could be a nightmare.

"We agreed to learn a song from each of our areas of expertise from your iPod. Yeah, I kinda apologise for swiping that the other day by the way…" Katara grinned at Aang, whose jaw had dropped in mock horror.

"I spent hours looking for that Katara! Unbelievable…" Aang shook his head. "But, wait, I don't know what you've chosen! How can I play them?"

Katara's musical laugh floated around the room in response. "Aang, there must be only ten songs on your iPod you don't know how to play!"

"Yeah, yeah, enough of this!" Zuko picked a string, enjoying the reverberations around the room. "Let's play my song first!"

Energised by Zuko's excitement, Toph counted down, thumping on the bass drum as Sokka played a guitar adaptation of the keyboard intro and Aang dragged out the main riff. Katara closed her eyes, and let the music wash around her, raw and uncut. This song suited her, The Pretty Reckless had a female singer and she reckoned she had this song in the bag.

The song cut to the bridge before the chorus as Katara really got into the singing, but had to slow down the tempo before the biting chorus. Aang, focused on his riff, had his tongue slightly poked out making sure he hit it note perfect as always. Sokka had a tough time keeping up with his section, but enjoyed the challenge. Zuko's bassline was simple but entertaining, as was Toph's drumming. As Katara screamed out the final line, "You make me wanna die!" the group slowly faded out of the song.

Smiles all round as they finished their first ever song together, Aang was first to speak. "Guys, that was so awesome! Who's song is next?"

Sokka piped up with his suggestion next, and immediately launched into the guitar intro to Paradise City by Guns N' Roses without waiting for further confirmation. Revelling in the adrenaline from the first song, and easily keeping time with Sokka until the pacy part of the song, where Aang and Zuko joined Katara singing as they could see she was struggling with transforming Axl Rose's growl into her own vocals. Katara looked slightly irritated as they finished the song, and immediately wanted Aang to start her own song, Jimi Hendrix's Voodoo Chile, the slight return version of course.

Toph demanded her song to finish with, and, with comical Toph style, announced it by leaning towards Aang and whispering in the scariest voice she could find:

"Burn the witch…"

Aang immediately launched into the song, the Queens Of The Stone Age song belting out of his guitar as Toph smashed the tom toms and the bass drum in time. Sokka, preoccupied with the backing tune, didn't notice Katara struggling with the vocals, and neither did Zuko, who had his eyes closed and was feeling out the bass rhythm without looking at anyone else.

Aang's guitar died away last, and as the final sounds faded into the dust, an appreciative round of applause came from the doorway of Zuko's garage. The huge figure of Hakoda stood in the frame, and he had the biggest grin Sokka and Katara had ever seen plastered across his face.


	10. Chapter 10

**Merry Christmas guys! As a little Christmas present, here's the next chapter. Hope you enjoy!**

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The initial excitement from the groups first session died away quickly for Aang though, as the day Gyatso had set out for moving came ever closer. Aang slowly became a recluse in his room, refusing to eat with Gyatso and keeping his phone off to avoid talking to the gang. Over another dinner alone, Aang's plate of food sitting untouched opposite him, Gyatso made his decision.

The phone rang, and he answered in his usual deep tone. "Hello?"

"Hi, Hakoda. Its Gyatso here. I was wondering if you had any free time, I need your advice on something?"

Hakoda's laugh boomed around his office. "Sorry, I'm booked up for the rest of the day. Meet me at Jimmy's later, about half eight? We can grab a beer and a bite to eat and you can ask me anything."

Gyatso agreed, on the condition that he could drink Coke instead of beer, and hung up. Looking up the stairs to Aang's room, where the door was locked shut as it had been for the last four days, every moment he had been in the house. He sighed, and went back into the bare kitchen. All his cooking equipment, his baking things, had already been packed. Boxes littered the hallway, an all too familiar sight. But he really had to do what was best for Aang. This was the best thing for Aang though, wasn't it? Keeping him safe?

He sighed deeply, and opened the front foor. Taking one last look at Aang's barred door, he headed out to Jimmy's bar, where he would meet Hakoda. On the way, he saw Sokka and Katara. He recognised Katara from her brief visit to their house, and remembered the music and laughter that had floated down from Aang's now quiet bedroom. He remembered Aang returning home after his first visit into town, coming in and enthusing about his newfound friend Sokka over Chinese food.

He walked into Jimmy's, and Hakoda's huge figure at the furthest table immediately caught his eye. Hakoda greeted him with a handshake, and gestured Gyatso to sit down, Hakoda holding a beer in one hand and shaking a menu at Gyatso with the other.

"Look through here for something you like Gyatso. You're a veggie, right? Jimmy does some damn good veggie stuff, or so I'm told."

"Thanks Hakoda. The vegetable lasagne sounds good, I think I'll have that..." Gyatso pondered slowly.

Hakoda raised his head and shouted at the bar. "Yo! Jimmy! One veggie lasagne and one porterhouse please!"

"Sure thing Hakoda!" Came the cheery reply, and Jimmy stuck his head into the kitchen to relay the order.

The two men made pleasant small talk about work and sport. Hakoda had been interested to learn Gyatso was a huge basketball fan, and the two had an in-depth discussion about the recent events in the NBA.

Eventually, and just as the meals arrived, Hakoda cut the small talk short. "Okay Gyatso, as interesting as my conversations about basketball are, I'm sure you didn't ask me here just for a chat about LeBron James?"

Gyatso chuckled, and proceeded to the real reason he had asked for Hakoda's time. "Hakoda, I'm worried."

"This doesn't sound good..." Hakoda commented, raising an eyebrow.

"It's about Aang. I've always thought I was doing the right thing moving around to protect him, but each time his reaction has been worse and worse. I've never seen him so upset as he is now. He's locked in his room, he doesn't eat with me, he barely even speaks to me. I was less worried about him after he had his accident! And I'm wondering, is this all my fault? Sure, I've been trying to protect him, but he withdraws from me each time! I don't know what to do..." Gyatso trailed off slowly, looking at the younger man for guidance.

Hakoda grimaced slightly, uncomfortable with giving advice to a man about what to do with his child.

"Gyatso, I'm not sure what you want me to say right now. It's not for me to tell you what you should do with Aang, that's not my place." He started.

"Please, Hakoda, I'm begging. Your honest opinion, that's all I want." Gyatso pleaded.

"My honest opinion? You understand what you're about to hear is my genuine, honest opinion?" Hakoda questioned, eager for Gyatso to understand that he was a man of his word. If he was asked his honest opinion about a topic, there was no place for lies where Hakoda was concerned.

"Please. Just tell me." Gyatso placed down his knife and fork with shaking hands, but locking his steely eyes with Hakoda's. "I need to do what's best for Aang, and I'm not sure what I'm doing is best..."

"Okay Gyatso. Here goes." Hakoda began, looking away from the man opposite him to begin with before shifting his gaze from his steak to Gyatso's eyes. "Kids need stability. Without stability, they're lost. They need familiarities, constants. You are a constant in Aang's life. As is his music."

Gyatso opened his mouth to question Hakoda's knowledge of Aang's love for music, but Hakoda waved him quiet and continued speaking. "Friends too play an incredibly important role in a child's well being. Now, I know Aang is good friends with my two kids, and you will not believe what I walked in on the other day. I was going to take Sokka and Katara for dinner, but they weren't at home and the music shop had already closed. I had no idea where they were, so I called Toph's parents. Lao and Poppy always know where Toph is, and they told me she was at Zuko's. So I headed over there, and as I stepped out of the car I heard some of the most beautifully played three songs I've ever heard come out of five teenager's instruments. And I've seen a LOT of kids play. I think Aang has found four kids who love music just as much as he does, and doesn't want to see that go just yet."

As Hakoda breathed in deeply after his long speech, Gyatso stroked his beard and pondered. He then posed Hakoda another question.

"What do you think Katara thinks of Aang?"

Hakoda laughed hard, nearly spilling his beer in the process. "Ah, she's smitten. I've never seen her this into a guy."

Gyatso joined in the laughter, smiling as he told Hakoda the story of what had happened the first time Katara had visited their house. Hakoda roared with laughter at the story, his mirth infectious as the two came to a conclusion.

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Armed with his decision, Gyatso returned home. The house was dark, no lights on. He looked up the stairs and saw a glimmer of light seeping out from the gap at the bottom of Aang's door. He smiled, and strode up the stairs, knocking sharply three times.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm packing already!" Aang's terse, tense voice erupted from inside the room.

"Aang, I've got some good news..." Gyatso sing-songed through the door.

"Brilliant." Even a goldfish could have detected the sarcasm in Aang's voice.

"Open the door Aang. You'll want to hear this in person!" Gyatso carried on. He heard a grunt of agreement, and Aang unlocked his door.

Gyatso told him. Aang looked at Gyatso with sheer incredulity. A smile, wider than any Gyatso had ever seen stretched across Aang's face. He jumped up, hugged Gyatso fiercely. Gyatso patted him on the back and wondered how he could possibly have made him leave the place that had, so far, made him happiest.

Not even twenty seconds later, each of the gang was celebrating receiving the same text from Aang. Apart from Zuko, who merely opened the message on his iPhone, shrugged, and put the phone back in his pocket. Albeit with a slight smile. Hey, even he was happy that Aang wasn't moving anymore...


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Thanks for sticking with this story guys! I appreciate so much all of you who take the time to read and review this story. Hope you enjoy this next chapter.**

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As a species, humans are reliant on social interactions and it is this which lead to the phenomenon known as a "group mentality". This was what encompassed any person any individual who spent time with any of the group for the coming two weeks. Ecstatic in the news Aang wasn't leaving, the smiles of the group of young adults left smiles on the faces of everyone who was around them.

Hakoda, already known around town for his friendly and welcoming atmosphere, was amazingly found to be even more cheerful than ever. Lao and Poppy Bei Fong, usually so stern and straight-faced, surprised the servant providing them dinner when they were laughing with Toph at the dinner table. Customers to Hakoda's record shop always left with a smile thanks to the smile adorned on Katara's face, and even Gyatso had cottoned onto the infectious happiness surrounding everyone he knew.

"It's amazing. I genuinely can't believe I was going to pull Aang away from this!" Gyatso exclaimed to Hakoda over the table in Joe's. This had become a regular occurrence for the two men, who had struck up quite a solid friendship after Hakoda had been pretty much directly responsible for the entire situation the two found themselves in.

"Gyatso, you can't think like that. You had no idea, you thought you were doing what was best and you were doing it with good intentions. Now come on, I told you the leek and pea noodles were good, didn't I?" Hakoda laughed, clinking his beer bottle with Gyatso's Coke bottle.

"They are indeed, Hakoda my friend. How did you hear about them?" Gyatso enquired as he tucked into a forkful.

"Katara mentioned them to me. She came here the other day with Aang I think. She said she was going out with the group, but I know that Toph was stuck with her parents at some formal lunch, and Sokka left only fifteen minutes after she did to go play basketball with Zuko." Hakoda grinned at Gyatso.

Gyatso returned the grin as he completed the story. "Aang said he was meeting the gang as well. Might something finally be happening between those two?" He laughed.

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The gang were discussing more possibilities for band practice. Now that Aang didn't have to leave, there was no urgent need to do it as soon as possible, but the energy put into them from the successful last practice, and the general buzz of excitement surrounding Aang's announcement lead to the five of them chilling out in the music shop, surrounded by musical instruments and influences, each proposing a new song to learn again.

They had decided to go about it the same way as last time, each suggesting a song. This time, however, they had the songs around them to listen to, and whenever a song was suggested Sokka would insist on putting it on before any agreement was reached. This lead to a very slow, drawn out decision process, before they eventually settled first for one of Katara's proposed tracks. She pulled the CD out of the sales drawer, set it into the CD player sat on the counter between the five, looking at Aang. She knew he already had it worked out. He'd briefly seen the cover art on the disk before she could get it into the player, and he smiled slightly, nodding his head as the soft track burst out of the huge speakers set up behind the counter, the CD player feeding its input in and the speakers releasing crystal clear notes, unlike the tinny equipment on the actual player.

And so the group agreed on Back Down South, from Kings of Leon's new album Come Around Sundown.

Sokka grinned as he thought of a song.

"We don't have it on the shelves," he explained when the others looked confused as he fished around in his pocket for his iPod. A slow song crawled out of the speakers, soft but strong acoustic with a offbeat drum kick, while a man and a woman's voice sung in harmony. Sokka's choice, Hard Sun by Indio, was agreed on.

"How did you even come across that?" Toph exclaimed, incredulous Sokka would pick something so mellow.

He grinned, and punched her in the shoulder. "I heard Eddie Vedder's version, and listened to the original version, and decided this was better." He paused, and turned to Katara. "Eddie Vedder is the Pearl Jam's frontman, just in-"

Katara cut him off by snapping at Sokka that she did indeed know who Eddie Vedder was, while Toph and Zuko snickered in the background.

Toph piped up with her suggestion as well, grabbing a Rise Against! album off the shelf and skipping to track 6 before hitting play. Prayer of the Refugee was agreed on, even if there was a little concern over vocals. Diplomatically, Aang suggested the group find out how the song sounded first.

Zuko suggested Twenty Twenty Surgery by Taking Back Sunday. Aang nodded in agreement, as did Toph. But Sokka and Katara weren't swayed, and Zuko still had to fish the single from the shelves and put it on before they could be convinced it was worth learning.

And this only left Aang. He'd been thinking, turning over ideas in his mind, but he'd yet to hit on something cool to bring to the group. He was too distracted. The entire time, he'd been watching Katara. The blue figure hugging top, the low jeans, the small, sincere, but most of all adorable smile she would break into whenever she saw Aang's eyes fixed on her.

He was well aware it was kind of creepy to be staring at a girl, but he struggled to keep his eyes off her. This, however, did not go unnoticed by Sokka, who made a note to have a chat with Aang about this later.

Finally Aang thought of something. He put on Affirmation, by Savage Garden, with a massive smile on his face. Clearly, he thought he was onto a winner.

But Toph and Zuko simultaneously stuck their tongues out and blew raspberries at Aang. Sokka and Katara, on the other hand, had been nodding along and sided with their lead guitarist.

"Just give it a chance, please guys!" Aang said, still smiling, as the song built to its chorus.

Suddenly, Toph yelled out. "I know this song! Oh, great idea! I'm in!"

Zuko grumbled. "Traitor..." He muttered. "Fine, I'll learn it."

Aang's grin got even wider. He turned to Katara as they were leaving the shop, and touched her on the arm.

"Thanks for supporting my song choice Katara. I wasn't sure it would be accepted there for a minute..."

Katara laughed, and there was that smile again. He grinned again, and this time, Sokka tapped him on the shoulder.

"Dude, mind if I have a word? Katara, I'll meet you back home?"

Katara looked slightly put out, and Aang hesitated before agreeing. "What's this about Sokka?"

Sokka waited until Katara had turned the corner out of earshot, and turned to Aang with an expression halfway between a smirk and a grimace.

"So, you and Katara eh?" The smirk on Sokka's face eventually overcame the grimace, and Aang was no longer as worried as he had been.

"Look, Sokka, I was gonna tell you at some point. I mean, she's your sister, and if it wasn't for you I probably wouldn't have any friends here, so, y'know, I'll stay away if you want?" Aang hurried through his speech, hoping Sokka would take pity on him.

Sokka laughed, punching Aang on the shoulder in a manner that seemed oddly familiar. "Don't worry about it dude," he grinned. "I haven't seen her this happy in a long time. Plus, you're so much less of a douchebag than anyone else around here!"

The two friends laughed and Aang slapped Sokka in the back in thanks. Then brought up the shoulder punching.

"So, uh, Sokka? You know you just punched me on the shoulder, right?"

"Yeah, what about it?" Sokka seemed unconcerned.

"You know only Toph does that...right? So why are you now doing it?" Aang asked innocently.

His innocent expression turned into full laughter as Sokka's face turned bright red.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Hey guys, here's the latest chapter. This story has recently had over 6000 hits, the most I've ever had for a story by far, so a big thanks to everyone! Enjoy this chapter.**

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**A few evenings on found the five setting up shop in Aang's garage, Gyatso was out for the evening on a dinner with some work colleagues, and had consented to the use of his garage for practice. Aang was busily tuning his guitar, humming along to the random tune that was playing itself out in his head. Toph had her manic grin, present every time she sat behind a drum kit (or anything that made an insanely loud noise), stretched across her face. Sokka was poking the battered old keyboard around while cramming a doughnut into his mouth. Katara was nowhere to be seen.

A brief search of the house by Aang found the upstairs bathroom locked.

"Katara, we're ready!" He called out nervously.

Hearing no answer, he pressed his ear to the door, his face heating up as he realised how this would look if anyone happened to leave the garage. Or if, heaven help him, Katara opened the door suddenly.

All he heard was Katara singing. Stopping. Cursing.

Aang knocked louder, calling out again to Katara. The singing stopped again, and Katara yelled back that she'd be down in a minute. Aang frowned, and went back to the others in the garage.

"Katara's just coming." He said on his return through the door.

Zuko looked up from his authentic Rickenbacker 4001 briefly. The others had questioned him about this particular bass before, the gleaming, jet black, fretless bass was by far the most expensive equipment in the room, more so even than Toph's drum kit, and they had refused to believe he had enough money for it. He eventually revealed it was the bass his father had bought him after burning his face accidentally. But despite his beautiful instrument, he still had an ugly scar.

"Tell her to get a damn move on!" He growled, plucking a string in anticipation. The deep bass reverberated around the garage, exciting Toph to the point where she started tapping out a drum beat. Sokka, who was busy re-tuning his guitar, started up a rhythm and Aang played his fingers over the strings, creating a riff on the fly and winding it seamlessly around Sokka's backing.

So engrossed were they in their music, they didn't notice Katara finally come into the garage. Stop just inside the door, her frowning face looking around in shock. Retreating back into the house.

Aang finished off his screaming solo, Toph hammering the cymbals as Sokka and Zuko's music faded out slowly, and each of them looked up with a huge grin on their faces.

Aang looked around the room, struck by Katara's continued absence. "I'll just go find Katara" he mumbled, setting his Les Paul down on its stand. He poked his head round the garage door, ready to shout Katara's name down the hall to the right, but he found himself face to face with the girl in question.

Blushing heavily as he realised how close they were, Aang stuttered out some semblance of a sentence.

"Uh, we're, ah, ready to go. If you, y'know, want to, uhm, come...sing?"

Finally a fleeting smile broke across Katara's face before she wandered into the garage, taking her place at the microphone stood at the front of the setup.

"Ok, since it was the first one suggested, I reckon we should do Katara's song first?" Sokka posed the question to the rest of the gang, who all nodded in agreement. Plus Sokka got to lead on this one, he and Aang had come to that conclusion while practicing together. Aang enjoyed the acoustic tune that rolled along at the back of the tune, so he had offered Sokka the lead and Sokka had taken it without a second's hesitation. And it was he who got them started with their first song of the day.

With both Aang and Zuko joining Katara on backing vocals at some parts of the song, it sounded beautiful, a song about fun and friendship. Sokka's riff faded slowly out, and the song was done. Even Toph looked happy about that song.

Zuko asked to break the rota and do his song next. So the gang launched into the song; Aang taking lead back from Sokka who was happy to go back to playing rhythm. Toph was focused on her drumming, but Zuko was concerned. He stopped playing, and the other three musicians immediately noticed and stopped as well, with Katara noticing a few milliseconds later.

"What up dude?" Sokka looked over at Zuko, who had his eyes focused on Katara.

Zuko shuffled slightly awkwardly as he spoke. "Katara, you know this song has a bit of screamo in the background right?"

Katara looked annoyed at the comment. "Yeah, I figured that since you're the only one who can sing like that Zuko that you'd back me up on that bit?"

"That's the thing Katara. I just don't think it'll sound right, me backing up your voice like that. There are some songs that just don't suit a female vocalist, and I think this is one of them."

Zuko actually looked upset, while Katara looked slightly shellshocked.

It was then Toph swallowed loudly, and spoke up in a shaky voice. "Katara, babe. I'm really sorry, but I kinda feel the same about Prayer Of The Refugee. That's got a fair bit of scream in it, and as good a singer as you are, I just don't think it'd sound right."

And the gang stood silently as Katara left Aang's house.

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"We never should have let her go." Aang said angrily, pacing around his front room.

The remaining four had been in no mood to play after the upsetting, awkward scenes that had just transpired.

"I know man. I feel like a complete bum, she looked so upset." Sokka shook his head, unhappy with the way he hadn't spoken up for his little sister. But the truth was, he agreed with what Toph and Zuko had said. They all had. Even Aang, but he wouldn't admit it.

Kicking himself as he walked home, Zuko couldn't find anywhere to place his thoughts. Sokka had driven Toph home, Aang had probably retreated to his room to try and call Katara again, leaving Zuko to trek home. He'd entrusted Aang with his bass, knowing he'd have enough love for it to take care of it till they felt up to practicing again. Plus he really, really did not want to have to carry it home.

He turned up onto his driveway, trudging past the sculpted hedge animals, up the gravel path towards his sister's Mercedes and his own Alfa Romeo.

"Zuko, I'm here to make a deal."

He started, surprised. Turning towards the voice, his eyes widened as he saw who it was.

"You want to sing, you think my voice isn't good enough, that's fine. But I'm gonna be involved in this band somehow. You want to sing, you can sing. No problem. But you're gonna teach me how to play bass."

Zuko smiled. "Sure thing Katara."


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Ok, so it's been a while. For that I'm really sorry. Had a few problems I've had to deal with. But it won't be anywhere near as long until I update again, hopefully within the next two weeks, before my finals start. Hope you enjoy as always.**

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Hakoda had to laugh, really. The number of times he'd shouted at Sokka after walking into his music ship to find him kicked back in a chair, feet up on an amp, picking out a solo from one of the shop's Fenders. The number of times he'd threatened him that he'd never work there again, and Katara would be the only one of his children allowed to watch the shop.

But yesterday he had walked in, and there was a twist to the tale. This time, it was Katara who was playing. Not comfortable, laid back and easily like Sokka, but with a feverish intensity mirrored in the fire in her eyes as she watched her fingers. Knowing better than to disturb his daughter at this stage, he let her be.

Katara had practiced day and night. Her fingers bled and grew calloused, but she paid them no attention. Eventually the pain would fade, but losing this big a connection with Aang, that would never be forgotten. He had no idea about her and Zuko's plan, and Zuko was still playing bass whenever the other members of the band were jamming in Aang's garage.

But he knew, and she knew, the surprise they were planning. They'd started off slow, the easiest bass lines first and moving up rapidly quickly. He taught her a couple of Black Sabbath lines, Katara got the hang of Iron Man faster even than Zuko had, and although he'd been playing for four years, she had an innate sense of rhythm and was mastering the instrument like she'd been born to play it.

Of course, nine hours practice a day could make anyone an expert in anything, Zuko grinned to himself. He knew how hard Katara was forcing this, the state of her fingers was the only clue he needed. He'd gone through the same thing after his… 'accident.' But Zuko saw of course. Quiet and reserved, he saw most things. The way she looked at him when he wasn't looking, the way he looked at her when she was turned the other way.

And weeks passed. School started again, and this interrupted Katara's plans. She spent her classes thinking about music, forgetting about her studies and instead running through lines in her head. One line in particular, that she desperately needed to have down perfect by tonight. And when she wasn't thinking about bass, her thoughts seemed to run at random through her head, without direction or meaning.

Three classrooms down, Aang was doing the same thing. He'd been writing a new song for the last week, and he had most of the music done. He'd have to get Toph's input for a drumbeat and fillers, and talk to Zuko about the bass, but the two guitars were written in. More importantly, as he flicked to a page in one of his notebooks, he had the lyrics fully out. He scanned through them once again, checking for the thousandth time, just to see them. Just because they were his.

_What would I be without you?_

_What would I be without you in my life?_

_Last night I dreamed about you,_

_My happiness on the edge of a knife._

_I've been alone for far too long,_

_Movin' around from place to place._

_But I'm making a new me here,_

_And we all know love's no race._

The bell rang sharply, and Aang started in his seat. Packing up his bag, he headed straight for the canteen. He passed Sokka by the entrance, who was sat with a couple of girls wearing a massive grin.

"There's my man! Hey, bro! Come over here!" Sokka shouted at Aang's direction.

"Yo Sokka, what up?" Aang greeted Sokka with a nod, wandering over to the table with his lunch and sitting down.

"Aang, this here is Suki, and this is Meng. Say hi girls!" Sokka didn't look at either girl, his eyes were focused on Aang.

The four of them happily ate lunch together, and slowly but surely throughout the lunch break Meng slid round the table, eventually getting up and sitting next to Aang completely. Aang seemed completely unfazed, more discussing future songs for the band with Sokka than paying her too much attention.

"Aang, I think its SO cool you're in a band. Sokka says you're an AMAZING guitarist…" Meng trailed off, looking at Aang and smiling a huge, toothy smile.

Aang turned to look at her briefly. She was nice, she seemed genuinely interested in him. This was new for Aang. Having spent most of his life largely ignored by the opposite sex, and not being able to judge much from his situation with Katara, Aang was confused. Katara…

She'd been acting really weird lately. They'd been on a secret, sort-of half-date, and Sokka had essentially laughed it off and given Aang his blessing, but nothing had happened recently and Aang didn't know how to bring it up. Especially after the whole kicking her out of the band problem. He definitely wanted to avoid having to talk about that.

And because of this thought train, it took him a while to realise Meng was staring at him expectantly. With her face way too close to his. Aang stood up quickly, making his excuses as he left the table.

"That's really nice Meng. Sorry guys, I've got to go to my locker before next period starts. I'll see you guys around…"

He quickly left the dining hall, reaching the corridor to his locker before realising someone was following him. He turned to see Sokka panting slightly, coming up behind him.

"Dude! I was hollering at you to stop for like, a whole minute!" Sokka grinned at him.

"Huh, sorry man. Was in a world of my own. S'up?" Aang replied, turning to his locker and spinning the combination.

He started in shock as Sokka clapped a hand on his shoulder. "You, my friend, just passed the test!" Sokka yelled in his ear, shaking him frantically.

"Aang laughed nervously. "Bro, you're scaring me. What test?"

At this, Sokka cracked up, holding onto the lockers in front of him to keep himself steady. "Dude, Meng was throwing herself at you! Literally! And you just kept cool and ignored it! You've passed my 'Good Enough For Katara' test!"

But instead of grinning like a maniac and shrugging his shoulders slightly embarrassed, Aang turned back to his locker with a slight, sad smile. "Thanks Sokka, but I don't know what's going on with Katara. She's been really off with me lately. She hasn't answered the last seven texts I've sent her… and I don't know what to do."

Sokka just smiled in response. "Don't worry man. I've got a feeling things are gonna be just fine between you two."

"Yeah? I wish I had your kind of confidence in this Sokka. I have no idea what's gonna happen." Aang slammed his locker shut in frustration.

"Let's just say I had some inside information that could be interesting to the situation…" Sokka tailed off, leaving the statement hanging in the air.

This got Aang's attention. He finally turned to face Sokka, a look of fear mixed with a desperate hope that Sokka had to take pity on.

"She wants you to come to ours tonight. Our dad's out, and apparently she has something to show you." Sokka finally gave Aang the good news. However, on seeing Aang's shocked and slightly dreamy expression, he felt the need to clarify. "Whoa, buddy! Don't get ahead of yourself! I'm gonna be in the house. Make sure no funny business is going on eh? Just because I approve of you going out with her, doesn't mean I approve of you getting laid straight away!"

* * *

So the evening rolled around, and Aang left his house with a toxic combination of excitement and pure, undiluted nervousness leaving his brain a complete mess. Walking to Katara and Sokka's house in a daze, he knocked on the door. Sokka answered, half-dressed and clutching a box of popcorn.

"The Celtics-Heat game is on bro! You gonna watch?" He asked excitedly.

Aang raised an eyebrow. "Erm, I'm kinda here for other reasons man…" He replied, looking up the stairs towards Katara's door.

Sokka grinned. "Oh, right. Yeah. That. Fine, but remember, nothing serious. I don't even know what she wants to 'show you,' but there will be issues if-"

"Yeah, sure, whatever." Aang interrupted. Kicking off his shoes, he leaped up the staircase four at a time, knocking quietly on Katara's door.

"Its open!" Came the call from inside. So Aang pushed the door, stepped into the bedroom, and gasped in shock.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Wow. It's been a long time guys. I just want to apologise for the long wait, and I hope you enjoy the chapter :)**

* * *

Caught up in the moment, he had barely even stopped to think. Any man would have done the same. His mind in shock, his body on fire. His hands playing carelessly in her hair, over her back, on her hips.

His lips on hers.

Barely even capable of coherent thought, her hands on his chest, nails carving half moon possession marks into his skin, and as she pulled back slightly, allowing him room to breathe, he grinned his trademark grin, happier than he'd probably ever been in his life.

"Wow…" He breathed. "That was some kiss."

She laughed, and he stared carefully at the rise and fall of her chest. She looked down again, and scolded him with a smile.

"Careful what you're looking at there. Did I say you could go there…yet?" she teased, posing the question with a beautiful, playful, stare.

"Oh…not cool. Not cool!" He moaned. But he couldn't help smiling anyway. This was what she did to him. Despite it all, she just had this unbelievable, irresistible air. He stared her in the eye, leant forward to capture her lips again, while pulling her back down onto him.

Minutes passed, locked in each others embrace, happy to just be with each other.

But then, again, she pulled back. This time with a more serious look on her face, and he gulped slightly.

"So. When are we gonna tell people about this?" She demanded, yet trailing a finger down his cheek that belied the tone of her voice.

"Uh, I dunno. Uh, you want to, uh, tell people?" He managed to somehow stutter out.

She laughed again, partly at him, partly at his question. "Course I do. You know me, I'm an upfront kinda girl, me. Can't be dealing with this secretive crap." She paused. "Plus Katara already knows…"

Sokka gaped. "Katara knows? How?"

Toph laughed again, properly this time, toppling sideways of Sokka and landing on the couch cushion holding her sides. Between laughs, she managed to explain.

"Snoozles, who the hell did you think invited me round?"

It took a while to process, but eventually Sokka understood.

"But, why would she invite you round when she's upstairs with…"

* * *

Aang hadn't been quite sure what to focus on first. The fact that Katara was sat there in a tank top and shorts, or the fact that she had a bass guitar resting on those long, toned, brown legs…

Yeah, it definitely wasn't the guitar.

He swallowed, knowing if he didn't ask now he'd lose his nerve and never be able to ask.

"Hey Katara. Erm, I've gotta ask you something. What…what did I do wrong?" He stood in the doorway, nervous, shifting quickly from one leg to another.

And to his surprise, Katara laughed. Laughed, and patted the bed beside her, motioning for him to sit.

"Oh, and close the door." She added, grinning slightly as Aang's eyebrows met his hairline.

Aang sat. Looked at Katara. And lost his nerve. And opened his mouth and began talking. Well, more like insane babbling.

"Katara look I'm really sorry about the band thing I didn't want to hurt your feelings I'm really sorry I should have stopped you leaving I didn't mean for it to turn out like this and-" He barely had time to realise what was happening before his chattering was cut off. By a soft, fleeting kiss.

Shocked, his natural reaction took over. And for precisely six seconds after the kiss, he sat there, on the girl he was crazy about's bed. With his mouth open like a goldfish.

And she fell to pieces laughing.

Eventually, he recovered enough to pick his jaw up off the floor, and she could breath again past the giggles that had just about incapacitated her.

"So something tells me you weren't expecting that then?" She said with a smile, once it looked like Aang was capable of thought again.

"Uh, you could say that…" He trailed off, matching her smile with a wide grin of his own.

Katara looked him in the eyes, and began speaking. "Look Aang. I'm gonna say, I was pretty upset when I was voted out as the band's singer. But then I realised, with the group of people we were playing with, there were some songs that were gonna be completely out of range of what I could hope to sing well, or at least properly, to make the song sound right. But I realised that day that it wasn't really the music I was doing it for. Well, it sort of was. But when I thought about it, the real reason I liked being in that band? Because I was doing something with you, that you obviously loved."

"But, now I feel even worse!" Aang yelled, rising up off the bed. He was quickly pulled back down, Katara shutting him up quickly.

"What do you think the bass is for, you idiot?" She grabbed his hand, calming his animated movements. "I knew I wanted to keep being a part of the band, so I had Zuko teach me bass. Zuko says he's fine with singing if the rest of the guys think I'm good enough."

"Woah." Was all Aang could muster up.

"So. Wanna hear me play?" Katara offered with a shy smile. She was nervous, more nervous than she had any real reason to be, but she knew he was too polite to ask to hear her play.

But she played. She played the only thing she'd thought of when she had first wondered what to play for Aang. And he recognised it immediately. The song that had brought them both together in the first place. Admittedly, through instrumental limitation it wasn't the whole song, but the bass riff that kicked in halfway through Fleetwood Mac's The Chain was probably one of his favourite pieces of instrumental that he'd ever heard.

And he smiled. Truly smiled. And when she'd finished, this time it was his turn to kiss her.

* * *

There was, however, an awkward moment to come. Without thinking, Aang and Katara walked into the kitchen hand in hand. Only to see Toph sitting on the counter, arms round Sokka's neck, looking over his shoulder at his Nintendo DS and alternating between shouting pointers into his ear and kissing his cheek.

Well, it was awkward for Aang and Sokka, anyway. Katara and Toph had known exactly (or so they would later claim) how it would all play out, but Aang stared at Sokka in a bit of shock. His expression was mirrored in Sokka's face when he looked up to see Aang hand in hand with his sister.

"Uh, girls, me and Aang are gonna go play some basketball in the garden. See you in a while!" Sokka said cheerily, while nodding his head at Aang. Aang understood, squeezed Katara's hand and followed Sokka out back.

Casually bouncing the ball but not really playing, Aang rounded on Sokka.

"Dude! What was going on there!" He half-yelled, half-whispered the moment the back door was closed.

Sokka laughed, but then he remembered the hand-holding and suddenly got serious. "More to the point man, what were YOU doing with Katara?" He glared at Aang, who simply smiled.

"Nuh uh man. I asked you first!" He replied, shaking his head.

Sokka groaned. "Ugh. Fine. I don't know how it happened, alright?"

Aang burst into a snigger that clearly conveyed his complete lack of belief in Sokka's attempt at an explanation.

Sokka groaned again. "Look dude. She just came over about two minutes after you did, told me she wanted to watch the Heat-Celtics game because…know what, I can't remember why she wanted to watch it here. Eh. Anyway, didn't really think about it, but then, I dunno, I was just looking at her, then I was throwing popcorn at her, then we had a tickle fight, then I was kissing her on our couch for like, fifteen minutes."

Aang laughed again. "What're you gonna do about it man? You two, like, serious now?"

Sokka grinned. "Think so. She wants to tell people, so, yeah, I figure."

"Good on you man!" Aang matched the grin, clapping the older boy on the shoulder, and in one fluid motion sank a three pointer. He was just running to collect the ball, when Sokka's voice rang out again.

"So…you and Katara then…"

Aang froze at the tone of his voice.

"Okay, I'm gonna just come straight out. Did you two have sex?" Sokka said bluntly.

"Nope. Just sat on her bed, listened to her played bass, and, uh, kissed. For a while. A long while…" Aang threw the ball from one hand to another nervously, unsure what Sokka's reaction would be.

"Dude! We were both getting some at the same time! How awesome is that!" Sokka yelled, holding his hand up for the high five. A relieved Aang slapped his hand.

"I know!" Aang smiled. "I can't believe Katara can play bass as well!"

Sokka's jaw hit the floor in surprise.


End file.
